Fourth Raadsaal, Parliament building in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
The Fourth Raadsaal is a parliament building in Bloemfontein featuring late 19th-century Victorian architecture with ornamental details and a clock tower on President Brand Street. The structure serves as the meeting place for the Free State Provincial Legislature and displays the formal building style of that period.
The chamber council was designed by Johannesburg architect Lennox Canning, but construction only began in 1889 when T. R. Robertson accepted a tender of £27,183.10. State President Francis William Reitz laid the foundation stone on 27 June 1890, and after a further tender of £12,500 to J. J. Kirkness, the building was inaugurated on 5 June 1893. In March 1900 British forces occupied Bloemfontein and used it as a military hospital.
The building's name comes from the Afrikaans raadsaal, meaning council hall; it is the fourth such hall used by the Orange Free State's legislature. Since 1994 it has housed the Free State Provincial Legislature, whose members still meet in the 1893 chamber. Most of the original furnishings were removed after March 1900 and now stand in private homes.
The building functions as an active legislative center and visitors can explore the interior through guided tours. Allow adequate time to view the architectural details and historic chambers.
The Raadsaal's original furnishings did not stay in the building: after British troops occupied Bloemfontein in March 1900 and turned it into a military hospital, most pieces were acquired privately and are now in private homes. The chamber later housed the Appeal Court until its own premises was built in 1929.
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